Shining Like Lightning
by cattiness
Summary: With the new semester at Degrassi beginning, how will now without girlfriend Zig's path cross with Jenna, who is making bigger leaps and bounds to start fresh with her life? It all began in first period study hall... Rated M for possible smut but really I intend for it to be very fluffy.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is my first fanfic, and about halfway through I realized I'd forgotten to have the moment where they realized there were no more uniforms, so I'm saying it was sent home in a letter… since clearly this story is AU. I hope you enjoy! There isn't any clear romance or anything in this chapter, but you'll see how things develop. (:**

Chapter 1:

It seemed like quite an odd winter, as the students of Degrassi, now without uniform, scurried into the building before the first warning-bell was to ring. A months had gone by in the year, well half of one actually, and not a single snowflake had fallen since autumn. Christmas wasn't white, it was, whatever color you would use to generalize the grass and the mud and the pavement. Multiple-colored, a gross color if anything, a cesspool of unwanted colors that the autumn had forgotten to let fade to white. Hopefully in a month or two, spring would not be forgotten, either. The lack of snow did not really bother Zig, he was glad to have a roof over his head, and without the tundra or the angry wind, his parents didn't have to bite bullets to pay for an excessive heating bill. Not everyone could see things without rose colored glasses, and Tori Santamaria taught Zig just that seamlessly. Nothing was ever good enough for Tori. 'Why can't I have a white Christmas! It totes sucks that it had to rain on my first high school Christmas!' she would say, with occasional variance. It was a mystery how things like that could matter to anyone, really, didn't they know some people dreaded the snow because it was a risk of health? Eventually, Zig couldn't take it and was completely reminded of why he and Tori had broken up in the first place. Tori was a great girl, but she came from a completely different world, and wanted completely different things than Zig.

Zig's schedule was decent, he had a study hall first period, and then he had his mandatory classes that he would probably blow off anyway, he had lunch, and then he had the classes he was looking forward to; art and music. Without their uniforms, everyone looked so different, they looked more alive and actually seemed to radiate the comfort and self expression that they were now permitted to have. It almost made Zig dizzy, not being able to tell what grades everyone was in because of their polo. Some people that Zig knew as sophomores before break, now registered as seniors because they dressed like adults. If Zig hadn't been blown into school just in time to put his stuff away and find his first class, he would have needed to sit down to catch his breath. His locker was a new challenge of the day, Zig knew the combination, but the sequence in which a combination was applied to a lock had always baffled the lanky raven-haired boy. 36-24-12 was how it went, and after many failed attempts, Zig Novak was once again a man who could get into his own locker.

"Novak. We need to talk." Zig heard a nasally, somewhat deep voice penetrate into his ear as Tristan Milligan stood near the metal door of Zig's locker. Zig knew he was going to get the best-friend talk eventually, but the fact that it had to be right after break frustrated Zig. He was going to endure enough ridicule when he showed up to class after class wrong, why should he have to be at the bane of Tristan's hissy-fit already? Because he broke Tori's heart, that's why.

"Tris save it, it's between me and Tori…" Zig huffed as he closed the shiny locker, turning his back to Tristan and walking in the opposite direction—regardless of whether or not that was his real destination. Tristan continued to rant and rave, but Zig decided to no longer be at the mercy of anyone else's turmoil in regards to his break-up. Now and then, Zig had to remind himself that he was actually happy with Tori at one point or another, but the wrath he'd had to endure since dumping her made him wonder if things would have been any different had he gotten with Maya instead. That was, if Maya had ever liked him the way Zig had thought he might have liked her.

After being consumed by crowd after crowd, stopped by many a random girl, Zig had finally found the room number that was marked on his schedule as the first place he should be. It was very confusing to Zig when he stumbled in, finding that he was the first one there. This never happened to Zig, he was always the one showing up at least five minutes late to every class. "Uh, am I in the right place?" Zig asked, arching a single eyebrow at the teacher, who was reading a newspaper and drinking coffee.

"Yes you are, son" the teacher said, without looking up at Zig or anything. Zig didn't say anything back, he simply scurried to the back of the room and took a seat, setting his stuff down next to the desk; because let's be real, he was probably not going to do anything anyway. Thankfully, people began filling the classroom soon after Zig had made himself comfortable. What was weird, was that they were people of all ages. They weren't people he'd mistaken for older either, these were people that Zig remembered seeing in blue and red polo shirts in the months prior. Zig could count the number of people in his own grade that were in this class on one hand, and they weren't even people he could charm into being his friends; they were guys that were also on the hockey team, fresh transfers into Degrassi he had learned through word in the halls.

Zig was getting ready to put his head down for a nap when he heard someone sit in the seat in front of him. Zig would have wiped his eyes to make sure she was real, but the sweet smell of vanilla that floated into Zig's nose, that was all the proof he needed. What grade was she in? Zig wanted to find a suave way of asking her but didn't know how, hell, he didn't even know her name! Apparently the teacher was reading Zig's mind.

"Jenna Middleton?" the man called out as he read through the list of students in the class, why she would be the first he called was a mystery to Zig, but either the teacher was an angel, or Zig simply hadn't been paying attention to the rest of the names being called.

"Here!" Jenna said, in a cheerful voice. As she tossed her platinum blonde hair over her shoulder, Zig blinked vigorously, as if some of her precious fairy dust could get in his eyes. Zig Novak now knew who he was going to pursue to get his mind off of Tori Santamaria, Zig Novak was now smitten by Jenna Middleton.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I'm writing this just after I finished the first chapter, so any comments, praise, or constructive criticism could not be taken into mind, because like most other human beings, I am limited to third dimensional perception and cannot see time for the fourth dimensional concept that it is and reach into the future for your comments. Thanks. (:**

****Chapter 2.

First semester ended up being a lot easier than she ever thought it was going to be. She thought it would be hard though, the first semester of school after giving her kid up for adoption? Despite a few bumps in the road, it was nowhere near the nightmare she thought it was going to be. As she rode to school in the back of Mr. Bhandari's SUV, Jenna smiled and chatted with Alli about how they were no longer required to wear uniforms. When Alli had originally shown the letter to her parents, that Principal Simpson had issued to inform the student body of their new dress code, Alli's parents thought they were lying. Thankfully, after a long phone-call with the school administrator, the girls were finally allowed to bag up their skirts and polo shirts to send off to charity. Today being the first day of school, Jenna wanted to look extra cute-wearing skinny jeans, booties, and a coral colored shirt underneath a denim jacket. The final touch was a few sprays of Jenna's favorite body mist, which according to Bath and Body Works smelled like vanilla. Hopefully today Jenna would make a good impression, remind everyone of her true aesthetic potential.  
To be blunt, Jenna's break had been uneventful. Aside from hanging out with Alli all the time, and hanging out with Jake when not Alli, Jenna did nothing but sit in her room and practice songs she already knew. The Bhandari's had been very hospitable to Jenna since she began staying there, but even their gift of "299 Indian folk songs" to play on the guitar couldn't add up to even one gift from her actual family. Not even Kyle had mailed her anything, maybe he thought that Jenna didn't care, since she was living with someone else's family. Life went on though, like it always did. Just another day at a time. Jenna kept her head up every day by reminding herself that one day, it'll be her name up in lights and everyone will want to remember her and shower her with praise the way her family never did.  
Before she knew it, the white SUV was parked momentarily at the school sidewalk, Alli's dad was ready to get rid of them for the stepped out of the car after Alli, giving the Bambi eyed girl a nod before the pair silently proceeded into the school. It wasn't like they had reason to be worried or anything, it was just early and there was nothing to be excited for, it was just another semester. Alli and Jenna separated as the two went to their lockers, Jenna being surprised she remembered her own combination. When she opened her locker, she found it in the exact shape it had been when she left it two weeks ago. The posters on the door were still of Justin Bieber, and the books were still the same. Jenna brushed her blonde hair behind her ear as she bent down to grab the book for her second period class, considering she had a study hall first period. Thankfully Jenna always had either Jake or Alli in most of her classes, but not this particular study hall. Jenna would just have to make nice with someone, or be silent and actually study. Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet, Jenna would tell herself.  
As she turned to get ready to go to her study hall, Jenna smelled the familiar smell of pine. "Good morning Mr. Mart-" Jenna jolted a baby step back as she noticed it was not Jake wearing his typical cologne, but KC Guthrie, wearing Jake's typical cologne. Jenna put her hand behind her neck as she smiled.  
"Sorry, I thought you were Jake... Did you know you wear the same cologne?" Jenna moved her hand so it was now more so cradling the front of her neck, her elbow hanging down in front of her torso. Jenna wasn't sure if KC had chosen to wear that cologne on purpose, but she really wasn't interested in any of KC's funny business.  
"It's perfectly okay, I actually did not know that.. maybe he's been wearing my cologne this whole time?" KC rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet as he kept a plastered polite look on his face. Jenna giggled politely as she wondered if KC really thought Jenna could buy that, or even fancy that joke enough to let it deflect the fact that he was wearing Jake's cologne; it wasn't even like it was a super popular cologne.  
"I'll call you soon, alright? I need to find my first period class and then try to make a friend there.. it's crazy." Jenna didn't give him any time to respond as she stepped away and began walking briskly into the crowd of faces without names, people she didn't know and couldn't even sort into grades because of their lack-of-polo shirts. Some of the freshman looked older, and upperclassmen like Alli would probably look like minor-niners now that she no longer had the polo of rouge to hide behind. Soon enough, Jenna found her classroom and sauntered in with all of the confidence she could muster; she was a confident woman taking the world by storm. There was an audience to Jenna's strut as well, the classroom was basically full except for three or four empty seats. Jenna spotted one in the second to last row and quickly took it, it certainly wouldn't be an issue that the boy she was sitting in front of was cute, either. Maybe this semester, Jenna could think about dating.  
The teacher began to read through the names in the class, in a monotonous way, it was obvious he hated his job-but what kind of study hall teacher doesn't? Jenna began to pay attention to her surroundings, being able to hear the lights vibrating and flickering up in the ceiling-was that normal? To be able to hear lights? Jenna bit her lip as she wondered how truly abnormal she might be until the teacher's seemingly thunderous voice broke into her thought bubble.  
"Jenna Middleton?"  
Jenna perked up, smiling for the crowd and batting her eyes that were blue as an oceanic sapphire. "Here!" she chimed in a voice that said sunshine. Jenna heard the boy behind her stir and wondered if she'd woken him. A few names later, and he was woken again.  
"Zig-" the teacher was getting ready to mouth an entire name.  
"It's just Zig. Zig Novak." The boy cut him off, in a way that was abrasive enough to make it seem like his full name was some kind of booby trap.


End file.
